It was released in 1987 by
Virgin Records as VS1013 and VST1013 in the
United Kingdom, as 505539 in
Portugal, as 80351 in
France as F-609542 in
Spain and as 609542 and 109542 in
Germany. The UK and Portuguese single's b-side was an extract from part two of "The Wind Chimes", whereas in Germany the b-side was "North Point". "The Wind Chimes" was co-produced by Oldfield and drummer
Simon Phillips, and "North Point" was produced by Oldfield. The maxi-single's contain an alternate mix of "The Time Has Come", the 12-inch mix, which is over 30 seconds longer than the normal mix. This 12-inch mix was later released on Oldfield's 2006 compilation album,
The Platinum Collection. The single was performed on a number of European television shows at the time, including West Germany's ''Peter's Pop Show''. == Music video ==